1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a recording and/or reproducing apparatus and more particularly to a recording and/or reproducing apparatus arranged to selectively use one kind of heads among different kinds of heads according to the kind of a recording medium to be used.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In this specification, magnetic recording and/or reproducing apparatuses of the rotary two-head type using a mangetic tape as recording medium (hereinafter will be called VTR) will be described by way of example.
During recent years, there have been conspicuous improvements in the properties of magnetic materials. For example, magnetic recording density on a recording medium has been improved by the use of an alloy powder tape (hereinafter will be called the metal tape), a vapor deposition or evaporation tape, or the like. As a result of this, it has lately become possible to record signals of 4 to 5 MHz even at a relative speed of 3 m/sec. At present, about the same picture quality can be obtained from the metal tape and the evaporation tape. It is hardly possible to predict what kind of tape will come to be chiefly used in the future. Therefore, it is desirable to have the current VTR's arranged to permit video signal recording on both the metal tape and the evaporation tape by advantageously utilizing their respective characteristics and also to permit reproduction of recorded video signals from both.
However, the metal tape has a large coercive force as a magnetic characteristic. Where the metal tape is used, therefore, magnetic recording cannot be adequately accomplished with a head employing ferrite or the like employed as a core member. Hence, VTR's adapted for use of the metal tape generally use a head employing Sendust which is an Fe-Si-Al alloy. However, the head employing Sendust is harder than the head employing ferrite and is brittle against an external force. The Sendust head is also inferior to the ferrite head in terms of antifriction property.
A head usable for recording media of all the different kinds inevitably has a shorter service life or becomes expensive. In the VTR, use of both the evaporation tape and the metal tape necessitates use of the Sendust head. However, the short life of the Sendust head inevitably shortens the service life of the VTR.